The Deadly Charm
by CitizenNancy
Summary: One of the Halliwell sisters find a weird charm, can the people at Angel investigations help them?


The Deadly Charm  
  
A Charmed/Angel crossover  
  
Los Angeles  
  
A burglar alarm sounds out, breaking the quiet and calm of a normal LA night. Two young men stumble out of an alley antiques store clutching a cashbox and several other trinkets. The loot was mostly old relics and the easy to grab stuff that was near the all-important safe. The safe was near impossible to get into for these smash and grab amateurs. They left it behind while grabbing the cashbox, which would hold less than half of the take they wanted from the safe. While grabbing the money they grabbed an amulet that glowed green in the night. Half way home free they encounter some beat cops who were alerted to the alarm from headquarters. Seeing this new danger, they split up and ran in opposite directions. Shots rang out in the night. The burglar that went south knew his buddy was simply not going to make it to meet him later at their hideout. In a haste to get rid of the weight he stowed the relics in random places, garbage Dumpster, a mailbox, and one rental car inside the glove department. It was amazingly easy to access it; it was unlocked. As he stowed the relic, he heard steps behind him. He dropped the cash box and took as much cash ,leaving the coins, as he could carry. He ran off with his loot around the corner. "Freeze!" was overheard. He didn't stop at the first warning of the police officer but the bullets would accomplish what the spoken command didn't. As quickly as it began, the chaos was over. All was quiet.  
The Hyperion Hotel  
  
The night was almost over and Angel knew this. He wouldn't be able to sit outside and watch the sunrise as he did when he came into possession of a ring that enabled him to walk in daylight like anyone else. But the first few streaks of red started to streak the sky. These streaks reminded of blood, momentarily. He knew that of he remained, he would meet a horrible and fiery fate when the sun rose. He got off his perch and walked into the main lobby of the Hyperion Hotel, the headquarters for his business. Well not really a business, if you can call saving the lives of the few remaining good people of Los Angeles a business. More like cockeyed fate.  
"Good night." He said to Cordelia Chase, one of the few people he knew in town.  
"Don't you mean good morning?" She asked while trying to find something on TV to watch. She found mostly informercials or lame seventies programming.  
Angel shrugged. One was as good as another. "We need a real client soon." He intoned as he climbed the stairs to his room. "Or otherwise we'll need to pull some drastic measures to even afford food."  
"But of course I'm the only one who needs actual food you know." Cordelia said stretching. She was going to turn in soon too.  
"Blood isn't exactly free." Angel reminded her. Angel had stopped feeding on humans long ago. He turned to look at her as Cordelia got one of her "visions." Angel rushed down the stairs and caught her before she hit the floor. Cordelia got her visions, the link to the powers that be, from Doyle. He had passed them on to her through a kiss before he sacrificed himself to save the city. The visions were sort of a goodbye gift you can't return. There were times, such as these, that Cordelia wished she could return them. But since her visions were what helped people then a little pain was a small price to pay. Since she became part demon, the pain has almost been non-existent, so this was the first time in a while that a vision had packed this time of wallop.  
"Are you all right? What do you see?" Angel said as he sat her down  
"Three women. Some kind of shiny object. It's bad, bad." She said.  
"Where?" Angel said.  
"That's the thing. It didn't say where, or who, just that it would be soon," She rubbed her head. Angel got her a drink of water. As she sipped from her glass a frantic looking man came into the building.  
"Is this Angel Investigations?" He asked. The man looked like he could be a distant relative of Albert Einstein. He definitely had the hair.  
"It is." Angel said.  
"I need your help. I lost something." He said.  
"A comb?" Cordelia asked.  
"No." He said stopping for a second. "No. I run an antique store. It was robbed tonight. I managed to find all of my stolen treasures, except one."  
"What is it? Can you describe it?" Cordelia asked while trying to quell the temptation to ask him if it was a ring. She had seen Lord of the rings recently and had been finding references to the movie in real life.  
"It's a charm. It's like a cameo except the cameo is green jade and has a white emerald in it. It's very powerful." He said. While describing it, Cordelia and Angel both flashed on her vision. Was it possible the reason for vision right here and now? Were the powers that be looking for clients for them now? It had to be more than a coincidence.  
"We'll find it for you." Cordelia said. Angel nodded, though he wished deeply that there were more of an element of excitement or danger to the new mission. Things had been so dull around the homestead he had given Fred, Gunn and Wesley some vacation. They needed it badly, but in a way it was a way to save money, so it was unpaid leave. The trio had needed so much rest they didn't much care.  
The man nodded and left, without giving so much as a name for himself or the store.  
"Ok that was weird. Not only do we have to find the object; we have to find him." Angel observed. "Since the others are gone, we'll have to handle this ourselves."  
"We can ask Wesley to come over and do research. Gunn and Fred are in San Diego." Cordelia mentioned.  
"We'll have to start later on." Angel said as he returned to the stairs.  
"I'll see what I can do on my end." Cordelia said. "I suddenly don't feel so tired." She continued as she went to her computer. "Hopefully we can find this thing and answer some questions."  
  
Cheap-ola Hotel  
  
Piper Halliwell hummed as she put on her shoes. Phoebe, her sister looked through her bags.  
"Have you guys seen my brush?" She asked. "I thought I packed everything I wanted before we came here."  
"Haven't seen it." Piper said. "Paige have you seen it?" She called other sister in the bathroom. Paige stopped brushing her hair long enough to notice that she was using the brush in question. "Noo." She said slowly. She muttered a curse and tried to pull all of her hair out of it, but in doing so she also removed her sisters hair. She thought for a minute and said a small incantation. Her hair, and only her hair, vanished from the brush. "Hey look what I found." Paige said weakly as she came out of the bathroom. Piper rolled her eyes. Phoebe took her brush and started to do her hair.  
The Halliwell sisters were known, at least to them, as the charmed ones. They were witches. It was passed down to them from their mother who was gone, as well as their other sister, Prue. She passed away sometime before they found their other sister, Paige. With their discover, the power of the was once again united. In order to get to know each other, Pipers new husband had suggested this road trip. They were in town one day and out of ideas of what to do. Phoebe decided she wanted to see the famous Manns' Chinese Theater. It was decided that they would go see it today. Phoebe finished brushing her hair as the others went out to their rental car.  
"And can you ask next time for my brush Paige?" Phoebe said.   
"How did you know?" Paige asked feigning ignorance.  
"You used a spell to remove your hair from it." Phoebe said. "You forgot one."  
Piper locked the door and joined the girls at the car. "Are we ready?"  
"Yep." Phoebe said. "I hope someone brought a camera this time."  
"Well I'm sorry!" Paige said. "I was so sure that wasn't Sean Connery."  
"I could have had a picture with James Bond!" Phoebe pointed out.  
"I got the camera." Piper said. "It's in the glove box."  
Paige opened the glove box and removed the Minolta. "Here, are you happy now?"  
"Yeah." Phoebe said. "Maybe we can look for George Clooney today." She mused. "Or Tony Danza."  
"Hmm what's this?" Piper heard Paige mutter. "What did you find?" She turned to see her sibling staring at a necklace. It had a green charm on it, and it was glowing a bright green.. Paige looked at it in awe. She couldn't take her eyes off of it.  
"What is it? QVC knockoff?" Phoebe said prodding her sister. Paige didn't respond. "Paige? Are you in there?"  
"Cut it out, it isn't funny." Piper said as they stared at her. The charm changed from green to white. The white seemed to burn in the reflection of Paiges' eyes. "What is that thing?" Piper said knocking it out of her hand. Paige reacted to this by gasping for breath and flopping like a fish out of water. Her eyes turned black and green. She stopped flopping around and sat absolutely still. She was deadly quiet.  
"What happened?" Phoebe asked. She touched Paige, but she was unresponsive.  
"I don't know." Piper said. "But I think it has to do with the charm and I think we are way out of our league.  
Hyperion Hotel  
  
"Since when are we on call?" Wesley Wyndham Price asked as he stumbled through the front door. "I thought I was on holiday?"  
"You are." Angel said. "But we need you." He was sitting on the stairs. It was almost noon, but somehow, something would not let him sleep. If he didn't get some sleep soon, he could be grumpy. Very grumpy, to the point of whether or not a grumpy Angel would be easier to talk to than Angelus, his evil alter ego.  
"Ah yes, its time to play, Wesley we need you to look up this incredibly rare demon in one of your even more rarer books." He sighed.  
"We don't know much except its a stolen amulet and possibly evil." Cordelia said as she handed over a sketch that she and Angel made of the necklace.  
"I'm going to need a little more information than that. There could be hundreds of these little charms." Wesley said looking it over.  
"Did I mention this is a paying customer?" Cordelia asked, putting the emphasis on paying customer. This got Wesleys attention. This could mean more money for him, which is more than the no money he's received lately.  
"I'll get on it." Wesley went into the office with the sketch.  
"I always told you Angel. Money is a great motivator!" Cordelia smiled.  
"Right." Angel said. "If we don't find this artifact that this mystery man wants, then the great motivator will have to be coupons to taco bell."  
  
The crappy hotel  
  
Piper laid Paige on the bed while Phoebe dialed the phone she found on a small desk.  
"Cole has to be home. He has to be." Phoebe said.  
"Do you think he knows what this thing is, or how to stop whatever its doing to Paige?" Piper asked  
"I can't think of anything else to do. We're in LA where we know no one." She said as the line was picked up. "Cole?" She asked. "I need you."  
Cole magically appeared next to Piper. "What's going on? I was going somewhere important."  
"Look." Phoebe said. She pointed out the charm that Paige held in her hand with a death grip. She didn't seem to be improving. She stared blankly forward, as her eyes seemed to rise to the top of her head.  
"This is what did this? How long has she been like this?" Cole asked examining her.  
"Mere minutes." Piper said. "We didn't waste any time."  
"Do you know what this is?" Phoebe asked.  
"Where did you find it?" Cole asked looking at the charm as close as he could without touching it.  
"In the glove department of our rental car." Phoebe said. "We have no idea how it got there." She sighed. "It wasn't part of the rental agreement bonus."  
"What was the agreement bonus?" Piper asked.  
"A free cup of coffee." Phoebe said. "Trust me, it was horrible."  
"This is a sham-rach charm." Cole determined. "It can be very deadly."  
"Shamrocks? Aren't they supposed to be lucky?" Piper asked.  
"No, sham-rach." Cole said. "Totally different. Not much is known about them except that the wearer loses their soul." He thought for a minute. "I know of a man who can help."  
"Who?" Phoebe asked, not aware Cole knew anyone in LA.  
"A demon. His name is Lorne and he runs a club." Cole said lifting wrapping Paige in a blanket. He lifted it up. "We have to go see him."  
"Lead the way." Piper said.  
"We'll have to use the car. Paige is a little heavier than she looks." Cole said. He ran out to the car. Piper opened the door and Cole slid Paige in. He positioned her head over his lap. The others soon join him in the car.  
"Poor Paige." Piper said. "I wonder what's going through her mind right now."  
"Oblivion"  
  
"Where am I?" Paige wondered out loud. "Am I dead? Is this heaven? Or something like it?" She looked around. She seemed to be in a blindingly bright white room with a purple mirror at the end. The face of the mirror was a cloudy purple. She reached forward to touch it.  
"I wouldn't do that." A voice warned. Paige turned. She saw a dark haired woman about her own age. "If you touch it, it will suck you into the depths of hell and never let you out. Not somewhere you want to be." The woman said with faint glow to her eyes. It was a purple cloudy glow. "I guess I should welcome you. You must be Paige." She continued.  
Paige thought for a moment. She had seen a picture before, but never met her. The family resemblance was slight but it was there. "And you must be Prue."  
"In the flesh, so to speak." Prue said with an easy grin. "And you must be wondering what you are doing here." She said her eyes growing darker. Her eyes seemed to turn from a dark purple to a bleak black. "You have something I want."  
"What?" Paige asked.  
"Your body." Prue responded. Paige stifled a scream. "And you're going to help me get it."  
  
Caritas  
  
"Bon sera senoritas." Lorne said as the trio entered the bar. They semi carried Paige into the club, but it seemed that she was walking almost by herself. She wasn't there yet she could move as if she was. This was another element of the charm that had to be explored. Cole had wanted to leave her in the car, but Piper and Phoebe outvoted him.  
"In order for Lorne to help he has to see what's happening to her." Phoebe explained. Cole finally decided that she made sense. Lorne had to as many details as possible.   
"This is Lorne." Cole explained. He told the story of how Lorne was from a dimension that was without joy and music. By chance Lorne happened upon a portal that led him here. He had been here every since. "He's a demon."  
"As the girls can pretty much see." Lorne said gesturing at his horns. "Demons have special abilities, as I'm sure you are aware of, since you are witches."  
"How'd you know?" Piper asked.  
"Oh please you might as well have a 'I break for covens' bumper sticker on your car. But you've got a rental so now." Lorne said. "I can read people but only when they sing to me. As you can probably guess, this ability hasn't helped me become popular with the inhabitants of Pylea, my home world."  
"You can read people when they sing." Piper mused.  
"I don't get it." Phoebe said. "This charm did this to her. She's barely able to walk on her own, which is incredible considering." She gestured to Paige who seemed to drift off into a sleep. Phoebe shook her hard.  
"Don't do that." Lorne said.  
"Why?" Piper asked.  
"If you jar her too much, whatever advice I give won't be of much use." He said. "Let me hear the whole back-story, starting with today. When you found the charm."  
  
"How are things going?" Angel asked Cordelia as she pored over another book.  
"Tiring." She explained. "I don't see anything in here like the drawing depicts. For the first time an ancient evil may be unlisted."  
"Look harder." Wesley demanded. "It has to be here."  
"Whoa, hold on Conan." Cordelia asked. "We'll find it somewhere." She stopped suddenly. She blinked hard. "Another vision; its not so hard hitting."  
"What is it?" Angel asked.  
"The three." She said. "I see three people. They are pretty confused. Another one is like a blank slate. Nothing is there. Total emptiness. The source of the ancient evil may be with them." Cordelia said. "And there's something else."  
"What?" Angel said. "Did you get any details on where they are? Your visions have gotten back to being hand-wringingly vague."  
"I'm getting something else." She said thinking. "They are close."  
"How close?" Wesley asked.  
"Very." Cordelia said. "Whatever is going to happen is going to happen very soon."  
  
After some convincing, Lorne got the two girls up on stage to sing a song so he could read their destinies. They weren't sure what song to sing so Phoebe chose the most scientific method possible, Piper opened Lornes' karaoke song catalog and pointed at a song.  
"We are fam-il-y." The girls sang up on the stage "I got all my sisters with me! Hey-eyy--eyy!"  
"I am so glad they didn't go with their first choice." Lorne said. "Obviously not charmed with singing talent." He noted. "This will be hard." He said as they continued to sing and do some of the stiffest dance movements since the 70's. "The one who needs the help is not capable of singing."  
"But can you help?" Cole asked. "Paige is in serious trouble here. I've never seen anything like what this Sham-rach can do."  
Piper and Phoebe finished singing. They bounded off the stage and sat down next to Paige. A dollar was dropped on their table. Piper swiped it and stuck it in her pocket.  
"I gather we shouldn't give up our day jobs?" Phoebe asked.  
"Just be glad my name isn't Simon, okay?" Lorne said. "Paige is there but she's barely hanging on. I don't know anything about this charm myself but I can tell you who will help."  
"I hope so." Piper said. "So far all we've been doing is gathering references to people who may help us. We need actual help!" She said exasperated.  
"And you will" He took a business card out of his pocket. "if you go here."  
"Angel investigations." Piper said reading the card as he took it. "What is this design? Some kind of bug?"  
"He'll help, and luckily is close." Lorne said. He started to rise. "Its time for my number. I'd suggest you go see him now. Otherwise you'll lose another sister and I doubt you'll have fifth Halliwell sister running around, let alone one with a P in their name." He said as he walked away from the table.  
"Okay we'll go see this guy and....wait a minute, how did he know about...?" Phoebe asked.  
"Don't ask." Cole said. "He sees way more than he needs to know sometimes." Cole paid their bill and followed the girls outside.  
  
"Why do you need me?" Paige asked.  
"I want to get back to the world." Prue said. "I want it all back. I want the whole world."  
"That doesn't sound like anything Prue would say." Paige said.  
"How would you know?" Prue asked her eyes narrowing.  
"My sisters would have told me about you being this way." Paige said. "Vie never heard anything like this from them."  
"They wouldn't tell you." Prue said with an evil smile. "Don't you know you aren't wanted? They have no use for you, and you didn't even want to do this in the first place." Paige looked at Prue sharply.  
"How do you know about what happened when I first became a witch?" Paige asked.  
"I know everything." Prue said coldly. "I know it all." She continued. "And if you aren't willing to let me take over, then other...well lets say persuading steps will have to take place. Prues' hand shot out. Paige went into a defensive position.  
"Over my dead body. You aren't Prue are you???" Paige accused.   
"On the contrary, that's exactly what I expect from you!" Prue muttered something in a language that seemed to be part pig Latin and part something else, something she didn't recognize. A green bolt shot out of her fingertips before Paige could even conceive of a counter spell. Paige felt herself go numb. She couldn't move out of the defensive position she was in. She could feel herself fading away. The room seemed to slowly turn black.  
"Piper...Phoebe, where are you?" She thought.  
  
Hyperion/ Angel HQ  
  
Cordelia had just barely recounted her latest vision. "These are coming to me in waves. It's almost as if the powers that be have me on CNN, constantly updating me. Whatever's happening, it's big and they need to keep telling me new information."  
"What is this new info?" Angel said. "Why would they be so vague before then tell us everything we want to know before?"  
"We don't know who it is, and what they want with this charm yet." Wesley said. "There seems to be something missing. Like only half of the story is there."  
"That's what it is!" Cordelia said. She went to where they had left the picture of the stolen charm. "It's like a heart locket; it's broken in half. Whoever needs the other half is who we are looking for."  
  
Piper stopped the car in front of the hotel. They sat there and looked at it for a second while Cole checked on Paige in the back seat.  
"This place is huge!" Phoebe said.  
"According to what the tour book said this was one of the last great Hollywood glamour hotels of the forties. Some kind of catastrophe happened here in the fifties I think. The guidebook didn't elaborate." Piper said.  
"I somehow an ad saying, come and see Hollywoods' famous house of doom." Cole opined. "She's fading fast. We have to get her inside now." Cole said opening the back door. He picked her up in bridal carry. Piper locked the car, and Phoebe remembered to make sure that they still had the charm in question. They ran up the stairs and ran through the door. Three people were sitting in the lounge area.  
All three rose when they saw them.  
"Is this Angel Investigations?" Cole asked as he carried Paige to a couch. As he laid her there, the motion knocked the charm out of her hand. A sudden gasp escaped her mouth and her hand began to quiver. The quiver lead up her arm and from her arm to the rest of her body.  
"Paige!" Phoebe called out. They went to her side.  
"It's a little late in saying but yes, this is it." Angel said. "What's wrong with her?"  
"This charm thing." Piper pointed to the object on the floor that Cordelia was in the process of picking up. "It seems to have taken her soul...don't touch it!" She shouted at Cordelia.  
"Relax." Cordelia said. "It's ok." She said looking at it. "It's seemed to have reached its one soul capacity." She examined the charm. "This is it, the charm from my dream." She said. "It seems to be broken though." She said feeling a ridge with her hand. "Part of it is missing."  
  
"Prue" held the other half of the charm in her hand. "I am Omagalla, Malian Princess and true ruler of your world." She said changing her voice from Prues to one that was much more exotic. "This charm was taken from me when I went to take over the world centuries ago. I was banished here by a very powerful sha-man. I was never to get out. Now I have that chance." She pointed to the mirror. The colors of the mirror swirled around in a circle, then a black spot emerged in the middle of the mirror and it grew bigger till it filled the frame of the mirror. From there the hotel could be seen.  
"Your friends." She snarled. "They cannot help you now." She said starting another incantation. "For all that is separate, make me one. From sun, till moon till noonday sun. I am one, you are none." She released a bolt of pure energy that knocked Paige down. She felt to the ground like a rag doll. "My time is now." She said gleefully.  
  
"We found this charm in the glove department of our rental car." Piper said.  
"There was a robbery during the night." Angel said. "The owner came in looking for exactly this item." He said as Cordelia held it. "He seemed real concerned about getting it back."  
"Gee, I wonder why?!?!" Phoebe said sarcastically. "It's obviously dangerous. We have to do something or this like that funny looking demon friend of yours said we could lose her forever."  
"The books I have don't have anything on this." Wesley said.   
"Why is that? I thought your books held info on everything to do with any of our cases." Angel asked.  
"You must remember that there are numerous charms, objects of all types that haven't been identified by our experts in the watchers council." Wesley said rubbing his eyes. "Sadly we can't do anything till something happens to...what was her name?"  
"Paige." Phoebe said. Her hand flew up. "I'm Phoebe Halliwell and this is Piper."  
"The Charmed ones?" Wesley muttered in a weird sort of awe. Angel and Cordelia glared at him.  
"Okay so you know these girls but don't know about the weird charm? I think is time to get some new old books to thumb through." Cordelia said.  
"There was a different third though." Wesley said.  
"Prue. She passed on last year around the time we met Paige." Piper said refusing to go into any further than that. "It's a long story." She said.  
  
The groups' attention was drawn to the couch, where Paige was sitting up.  
"Paige!" Piper said. She moved to go over to her but Angel grabbed her hand. "Can I see if she's all right?" She asked him. He firmly shook his head no.  
"She may be a lot of things, but she's not your sister." Angel said quietly.  
"You're very perceptive Angelus." Paige spoke.  
"That's not her voice." Phoebe said. "Unless she just got a hell of a cold."  
"Paige is not in this vessel anymore. I am Omagalla and I am here for what I want." She said her eyes taking on a purple glow. "You have it." She said looking at Cordelia who still held the charm. She put it behind her back.  
"Oh no I don't. I found this in a cereal box." She said.  
"I will have what I want!" Omagalla said in a darker tone. Her hand flew up. Sparks began to fly from it. Cordelia looked up to see a light falling her way. Before she knew what happened Angel shoved her out of the way, taking the brunt of the impact.  
"How'd he move so fast?" Phoebe asked.  
"Angel is a vampire." Wesley explained. Piper and Phoebe exchanged a worried look that he caught. "He's one of the good ones. Well, the ONE good one. He's a little faster than the rest of us."  
Angel sprung up, barely hurt by the lamp. Omagalla attempted to fly to Cordelias' side. As she did so, Angel grabbed her by the arm and stopped her short flight. She slammed to the ground. Cole, who had been standing by doing nothing, finally got involved in the action. He picked Omagalla off the floor and held her by the arm. Angel grabbed the other arm.  
"You will release Paige." Cole demanded. Omagalla laughed.  
"Silly fools, do you think just the two of you can stop me?" Omagalla challenged. With a flick of a wrist she slammed Cole to the ground and attempted to break Angels' neck. She stopped halfway remembering he's already dead. Angel took advantage of her hesitation and grabbed her other arm. While this was going on Cole recovered. He looked at Omagalla's hand. It held a charm in it.  
"The other half of the charm!" Cole pointed it out. Angel looked down at her hand. The other half of the charm was wrapped around Paiges' arm like a bracelet. It was glowing white-green. "It's changing color."  
Cordelia looked down at the half she held. "This is too."  
"I wonder why." Phoebe asked. Wesley joined them from the other room with a huge book. It had a lot of dust on it. So much dust was on it; it looked a self-contained desert. "Dear me look what I found." He said. Omagalla strained against Angel. "The Sham-rach charm. It would reunite the powers of heaven in earth. Link the eternal chain, but nothing would live. It would effectively end the world." Wesley said.  
"Another end the world thing? Come on! As if these people thought one of these things would work. And the end doesn't justify the means; we would all be dead!" Cordelia ranted. "I know that makes no sense to any of you, try living half your life near the hellmouth!"  
"Cleveland?" Phoebe asked after thinking a moment. Cordelia blinked.  
"Long story, longer ending. Actually no ending." She explained.  
"You will not have me!" Omagalla said breaking Angels grip. She ran toward the door. "As long as I have this half, you cannot stop me!" She said going out the door. She stepped out and vanished.  
"Oblivion"  
  
Paige was still on the floor of the creepy room. She tried a small incantation to try to get up but it was as though gravity had tripled and was holding her to the ground. She looked around. The mirror seemed to be leaking a mysterious black fluid onto the ground. It the consistency of oil. As each drop fell to the floor, it covered and surrounded anything it touched.  
"Whatever that is, isn't good for me." Paige said. "Please guys, help me!"  
  
"Okay now what?" Piper asked soon after Omagalla vanished.  
"Bad news, she has your sister and the charm." Cole said. "Good news..."  
"Theres good news?" Cordelia asked.  
"We have the half she wants. She will be back." Angel finished. "What else does your book say?" He asked Wesley.  
"The charm displaces the soul. In order for complete soul placement in the new vessel, the charm must be linked." Wesley continued to read. He seemed to have a tough time with the translation. Piper looked over his shoulder. "It seems like a weird form of Latin."  
"Great, that's what we need, a dead weird language." Piper moaned.  
  
A loud clatter sounded from the top floor. All eyes went to the stairway, looking as they expected someone to come down. No such luck.  
"Phew, close call." Cole said. He looked at Cordelia. Her eyes rolled back in her head.  
"Is it the charm?" Angel asked coming over to her. There seemed to be some sort of special concern for her, Phoebe noted. Angel passed his hand in front of her eyes.  
"She's....trying.....to.....draw.....me....toooooo the roooooof." She said. Her voice started to fade away. Angel looked down at the charm. It was a dark blood red. He knocked it the floor. It hit the floor with a clatter, not harming it at all. Cordelias' eyes returned to normal.  
"What was that?" Piper asked.  
"The book says that if the process isn't completed before the hour of nigh on the day of the pre solstice moon in the millennial equinox." Wesley said. He looked at them as they gave him a collective "What?" look. "If we don't have it done by noon. Say about, ten minutes." Wesley explained.  
"You could have saved a minute and told us that before." Cordelia said.  
"Forget time." Phoebe said. "How can we stop it?" Wesley looked to his book again. "Hurry up British guy!"  
"I think I have a plan." Wesley said. "And we will need to tap into the power of three to do it."  
"Well hello! We have power of two." Piper said. "Deus!" She said holding up two fingers.  
All eyes turned to Cordelia. At first she couldn't figure out what they wanted.  
"Oh no way!" She said turning. She went up the stairs. "Call Willow! I can keep Omglatta-blugotta busy till she gets here."  
"Paige needs you now!" Piper said. "It's always been three sisters, three women. That's why we probably never had a brother!"  
"She won't be here in ten minutes." Angel said chasing her. "Please do this." Angel said grabbing her hand lightly. "Fine, I'll get you some new boots!" Angel whispered, speaking the language Cordelia understood, fashion.  
"Deal." Cordelia said. "What do we do?"  
"We'll have to learn on the way." Wesley said. "Let's go."  
  
"Oblivion"  
  
The black fluid was creeping closer to Paiges' limp body. It was moving faster. It seemed to be moving toward her feet first. Even if she could move, she could not run. There were no doors in this room, so there was also nowhere to hide.  
"I'm going to have to face it. This is the end for me." Paige thought sadly. If she could feel it, or was even able to do it, she was sure she would be crying right now. But all she could feel was a sense of overwhelming emptiness. "It's over."  
  
The roof  
  
"I am here." Cordelia said as she approached Omagalla. She found her on the roof. Apparently their earlier guess was right. She wouldn't go far without what she needed. Piper and Phoebe stood in back of her. Angel, Cole and Wesley remained out of sight.  
  
"Good, then hand me the charm." Omagalla said. "I promise since that you have given this over to me willingly..." She said sarcastically. "...You will be spared when I rule this world of yours."  
Cordelia nodded and handed over the charm. Omagalla held out her own charm. The broken halves of the charm united.  
"Do it!" Angel shouted.  
Piper and Phoebe grabbed Cordelias' hands and began a incantation. Cordelia chanted along with them. Within seconds their voices was one.  
"Separate worlds, you will unite. What is two will now be one. We are united, you are divided, and you will fall. You will give us her and you will transpire!" They kept saying. Omagalla started to shake, her grip on the charm was unrelenting.  
  
Paige looked around her. The blackness that had crept toward her was now moving back to the mirror. It crept up the wall and into the frame. A swirling motion begins in the frame. The mirror returns to its purplish color from the black color it once was.   
  
"Hold on!" Cole shouted as the girls chanting becomes faster and faster. Their words intermingled with the other. A glow started to emanate from the charm. It surrounded both girls, but it was only harmful to Omagalla who was shrieking.  
"What's happening?" Angel asked.  
"The spell is taking the spirit of Omagalla out of Paige." Wesley said. "We have five minutes left." He tapped his watch. "Sorry, two left. I forgot to wind my watch."  
Omagalla screamed a final scream and let go of the charm. The light vanished as quickly as it came. The girls were knocked to the floor.  
  
Paige discovered she could move. She rose as she saw Omagalla flash briefly before her eyes. As she vanished from site, the mirror exploded. Paige put her hands up to stop any flying chunks of glass.  
  
As the mirror in Paiges' own oblivion the charm grew hot in Pipers hands. She dropped it, immediately shattering it into pieces.  
"There goes that one paying client." Cordelia murmured. Angel came to her and sat her up.  
"I think we have some superglue." Angel said. Cole went to Paige and sat her up as well.   
"Paige?" Cole whispered as Piper and Phoebe rose from the ground. "Paige?"  
"Next time, I'll leave the glove department alone." Paige whispered. Cole looked over at Piper and Phoebe.  
  
Later  
  
"She's going to be fine." Cole said as Paige laid on the couch. Wesley had left, and gone back to his vacation.  
"That's good to hear." Angel said.  
"Oh here." Cole said. He handed some money to Angel. Three twenties. "So today wasn't a total loss." Cordelia almost had a stroke when she saw the money.  
"Happy to do it." He said turning down the cash offer. Cordelia stomped on Angels' foot. "On second thought..." He said taking the money. Cole promptly vanished.  
"Must be fun around that guy." Cordelia observed. "Don't even use a door."  
"We've had our moments." Phoebe said.  
"What do you do now?" Angel asked.  
"Go back to our hotel." Piper said. "Maybe back home. Paige is gonna need to rest."  
"Stay here as long as you want. We can always use company." Cordelia offered. "We got lots of room." She continued as Angel looked at her. "What? We helped each other; it's the least we can do."  
"Is there room service?" Phoebe asked. She didn't get an answer. "I guess that means I'm warming my own can of chunky soup and calling collect." She mused.  
The end 


End file.
